Benchmark: Floral Species (tropical?—which ones/how many? Why are these tropical species?)
Benchmark: Fauna Species (tropical?—which ones/how many? Why are these tropical species?)
Benchmark: The Everglades (what about the Everglades?)
Concept 2: Chemical Sciences
Benchmark: pH (specific to tropics?)
Benchmark: Acidity (specific to tropics?)
Benchmark: Oxidation (specific to tropics?)
Benchmark: Chemical properties in water and soil (specific to tropics?)
Concept 3: Physical Sciences
Benchmark: Energy in oceanic waves (specific to tropics?)
Benchmark: Heat energy (specific to tropics?)
Benchmark: The Doldrums (specific to tropics?)
Benchmark: Tsunami (specific to tropics?)
Concept 4: Environmental Sciences
Benchmark: Climate (tropical? same as Phys Sci benchmark 3?)
Benchmark: The Everglades (understand why this is an ecosystem of the tropics?)
Benchmark: Coral Reefs (understand why this is an ecosystem of the tropics?)
Benchmark: Mangroves (understand why this is an ecosystem of the tropics?)
Benchmark: Human Population and their effects (specifically in the tropics?)
Concept 5: Engineering
Benchmark: Submersibles (same as Phys Sci benchmark 2?)
Benchmark: Submersible sensors (same as Phys Sci benchmark 2?)
JAK: 1) I like the idea of “tropical sciences” as a standard, but I would like to avoid organizing standards in a way that is based directly on the courses. I suggest thinking about using only three key concepts: Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, and Physical Sciences. It seems that most of the tropical sciences items we may want to emphasize/explore by using standards fall in these three categories. Would we not describe much of what we want to happen in Ecology or Environmental Science as part of the Bio, Chem, or Phys sciences (i.e. “Tropical Ecosystems” perhaps, as a benchmark under Bio Sciences)? Similarly, would much of engineering not be Phys Sciences? Or, I could see having a Key Concept be “Life Sciences” and another Key Concept be “Environmental Sciences” rather than having a Biological Sciences concept. What we want to aim for is “what are we hoping to teach in…” or “what do we hope/expect students to know or be able to do after completing…” our curriculum. What we want to review in this exercise is “at the end of their career at RE, how much do our students know about Tropical Science” and accordingly “what do we need to do to make this better.” 2) On a different note, what about “Global Tropical Sciences?” Thinking about the standard this way would allow us to look at/emphasize not only the tropical science curriculum but SIP goal of Global Perspectives too. Maybe we craft the standard in a way that allows us to see how well we are incorporating Global Perspectives into our discussion of Tropical Sciences (so maybe the, or a (perhaps in US, if we differential by grade level) benchmark is “Comparative Tropical Ecosystems” fleshed out to be something like “a comparative approach to ecosystems that identifies the characteristics common to all tropical ecosystems and the differences among tropical ecosystems in different parts of the world.” Then in “content” the specific ecosystems that are studies (i.e. the Everglades, the Amazon, etc., would be listed).
Grade: 6-12
Strand: Tropical Science
Concept 1: Biological Sciences
Concept 2: Chemical Sciences
Concept 3: Physical Sciences
Concept 4: Environmental Sciences
Concept 5: Engineering
JAK: 1) I like the idea of “tropical sciences” as a standard, but I would like to avoid organizing standards in a way that is based directly on the courses. I suggest thinking about using only three key concepts: Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, and Physical Sciences. It seems that most of the tropical sciences items we may want to emphasize/explore by using standards fall in these three categories. Would we not describe much of what we want to happen in Ecology or Environmental Science as part of the Bio, Chem, or Phys sciences (i.e. “Tropical Ecosystems” perhaps, as a benchmark under Bio Sciences)? Similarly, would much of engineering not be Phys Sciences? Or, I could see having a Key Concept be “Life Sciences” and another Key Concept be “Environmental Sciences” rather than having a Biological Sciences concept. What we want to aim for is “what are we hoping to teach in…” or “what do we hope/expect students to know or be able to do after completing…” our curriculum. What we want to review in this exercise is “at the end of their career at RE, how much do our students know about Tropical Science” and accordingly “what do we need to do to make this better.” 2) On a different note, what about “Global Tropical Sciences?” Thinking about the standard this way would allow us to look at/emphasize not only the tropical science curriculum but SIP goal of Global Perspectives too. Maybe we craft the standard in a way that allows us to see how well we are incorporating Global Perspectives into our discussion of Tropical Sciences (so maybe the, or a (perhaps in US, if we differential by grade level) benchmark is “Comparative Tropical Ecosystems” fleshed out to be something like “a comparative approach to ecosystems that identifies the characteristics common to all tropical ecosystems and the differences among tropical ecosystems in different parts of the world.” Then in “content” the specific ecosystems that are studies (i.e. the Everglades, the Amazon, etc., would be listed).